If you can turn a game into something entirely different, the best choice is to save yourself the effort and start from scratch.

Generally speaking, you want to hack a game that's somewhat close in mechanics to what you want out of the end result. Past a certain point, it's actually MORE work to hack an existing game than to write a new one.

Cutscene-wise, I think some realism is in order. You have very limited space available to do cutscenes. While FMV obviously won't happen, there's also a limit on how many Ninja Gaiden/Phantasy Star/ETC-style still or mostly-still frames you can put in. If you want something more dynamic, you should really consider having sprites act it out in a scripted event, like Final Fantasy 6's opera scene. It's a much lower-cost way to do a cutscene.

Those are some really good points. Did you like any of the Xenosaga games? While its a different series, I still haven't finished Xenoblade, which is great as well. I think Monolith Soft is one of the better rpg developers out there, as all the ones they've released tend to be favorites of mine, including Soma Bringer.

I've been playing a lot of Picross DS and I've almost completed every puzzle that came with the game. I'm not sure if you can still get the Puzzle Packs, but I doubt it, so I think it would be cool to have a hack that I'll just call Picross DS Complete, where all the Puzzle Packs, as well as the puzzles that are exclusive to the Japanese version and the Korean version as well.

I'd hack Bare Knuckle III's English patch to finish the motorcycle level and change the names to the SoR3 ones, as well as adding an "Insane" difficulty mirroring SoR3's hardest.

Another game I'd do would be the Genesis version of Exile, removing all experience points and retranslating the script, as well as adding in scenes from the original XZR 2 and making stage layouts less confusing.

My interest in hacking games has increased dramatically since creating this thread and talking about ideas for specific games, as well as hacking itself. I have been playing Mega Man 9 recently, which has reminded me how much I love the series.

I've also been attempting to play through all the main entries in the Metroid, Castlevania, and Final Fantasy franchises, while also playing Street Fighter X Mega Man, Super Mario Bros. Crossover, and reading the sprite comic strip Heroes Inc, I've been inspired to attempt a huge, but awesome undertaking.

I am going to try planning and developing a Mega Man series that is a spin-off of the main entries - I'll draw from the Mega Man X games as well, but in the end this series will be very different than both series. It is going to be a hybrid of Final Fantasy and Mega Man, with elements of Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Think of it like Dissidia Final Fantasy, but combined with Mega Man.

Each entry would follow the story of the Final Fantasy game it crosses over with, starting with the original. Dungeons would become Mega Man levels, the bosses would work like what would expect from Mega Man bosses, but with more depth from the gameplay additions.

These additions is where a game like Symphony of the Night comes in. In the same way SOTN added RPG elements to the series, this Mega Man Series would do the same, and with a much more complexity to items than in Mega Man 9 and 10. Bolts would still act like currency, but killing enemies would now give you experience too. The different weapons you would use be based on the magic system in Final Fantasy, like Fire or Blizzard, but you would obtain the upgraded version of these spells, Fire becoming, Fira, then Firaga.

In terms of experience and gaining levels, each entry would be related to the Final Fantasy game that it is crossing over with. With each level you would gain health and weapon energy. Obtaining weapons, spells, or abilities would be more complex then the original Mega Man. Depending on the bosses you are able to obtain new weapons and spells that are exclusive to the boss, while you buy the other spells in Towns; sometimes bosses would give you abilities instead of weapons, like the ability to slide or dash.

Now, on to items. Energy Tanks wouldn't be in the game. Instead they would be replaced by two types of potions, one for Health and the other for Mana or weapon energy. The sprite for an extra life wouldn't be Mega Man's face, but that of a Phoenix Down. The game would also have the status ailments of FF 1, as well as the buffs, and you would need items like Antidote to cure Poison if you don't have the spell for it, and the same goes for using buffs.

Lastly, the level layout would be much more complex. It would be more like Gargoyle's Quest, having the Final Fantasy 1 World Map, with Towns and Dungeons. Towns would have the same layout, but Dungeons would be play like the typical Mega Man level, but with more non-linear elements, since dungeons don't always have a straight path, other paths leading to chests or dead ends. On the World Map random encounters would be very similar to random encounters in Gargoyle's Quest and Zelda II, having a small 2D layout with a select number of enemies.

With each game, the mechanics would be changed or added to reflect that Final Fantasy game. An example would be in the game Final Fantasy X Mega Man III - using the FF name first because Street Fighter came first in that crossover - would introduce Summons to the gameplay, while Final Fantasy X Mega Man VII would introduce Materia.

I hope you like this idea. I'm going to try working on this, starting with planning out the entire design mechanics and concepts. Once I'm satisfied with the results I'll attempt getting an actual group together if people are interested in working on it with me, but I'll still go solo if need be.

Thanks. I understand how big of an undertaking it is, so it is a very long term goal. And since it is such a huge departure for both games, it would make more sense create a game from scratch, but using the same tiles and sprites whenever I can. I know its going to be hard, long haul, but in these days if you want to play a new Mega Man game you need to either make it yourself or play another fan creation, as we all know Capcom isn't going to do it anytime soon.

Instead of actually trying to create a hack about a Mega Man and Final Fantasy crossover, let me know if anyone would be interested in adding to the ideas at hand, so we could have some fun with it and explore the potential for such a game. This wouldn't be an actual development project, but more of something fun to write about.

Perhaps. But, to make sure everybody understands, when I say make a game out of it, I don't mean make an actual hack, but just talk about what we would do to truly make the best type of game for that. If anyone is interested in trying it out, let me know here, and we can look into starting a new thread here or somewhere else.

So wait. Are you looking to make a Megaman style Final Fantasy game or a Final Fantasy style Megaman game? Because that wall o' post was all over the place.

Plus, the Megaman franchise did a lot of that already. The Zero series started out with weapons needing uses&|kills to gain additional functionality like being able to charge to higher levels, attack in longer combos, or to speed up the rate of charge. The ZX series was practically a poor man's Metroidvania. The Legends series was a 3D Metroidvania long before anybody else came close to replicating the style. And Command Mission was for all intents and purposes, a reskined Breath of Fire game which itself started out as a Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy clone.

Also, a rule of thumb I keep handy when I start looking at making a game. Don't just throw everything you like or want into a game. So how would you balance Summons with Spells in a Megaman style platformer that's also a Metroidvania? Would Summons be the Item/Gigacrush or would Limit Breaks be those? And then what would spells be, if not boss weapons? And how would you introduce Limit Breaks and Summons to characters who didn't have them originally? And how many characters would be attending this game, and how would you differentiate between them? But wait, there's more!

My best advice to dealing with such a conundrum is to take a central, core idea and build towards that while approaching the other ideas like you would with pieces in a game of Tetris.